The Acorn Empire
by ThereIsNoDoggo
Summary: After being caught anonymously sending information regarding the Acorn Empire’s plans to the Freedom Fighters, Sonic the Hedgehog is on the lam for accounts of treason. When he takes refuge in Knothole Village, Sonic must reconnect with and regain the trust of the friends he hasn’t seen in 10 years, including his childhood crush, Sally Acorn. (Archie Sonic AU).
1. Prolouge

"Well, well, well. Look what we have here!"

Kodos, Naugus, and Julian are thrown to the ground by the respective guards holding them. "You selfish son of a-," Kodos is kicked in the back before he can finish. "Mind your tone, Kodos," the King said, "despite your treachery you all still serve me!"

Julian rebutted, "We wouldn't serve you even if you were the last king on Mobius!" "Bold words for the one who built an army for me," said the King to Julian.

"Don't you realize what your doing to this land," Naugus called. The king replied, "I know exactly what I'm doing, Naugus. I'm doing what all my ancestors didn't have the spine to do!" Naugus continues, "We won't let you get away with this you despot!" "Really now," said the king, "Naugus, you and your troupe are already at my mercy, do you really think you stand a chance?"

Suddenly, Nagus disappears and reappears behind the king and knocks him to the ground. He then uses his crystalline magic to trap the the guards that were holding him and his comrades down. "Run fools! I can only do so much without my wand!"

Kodos grabs Julian and Naugus and carries them on his shoulders. Kodos runs out the throne room while King Acorn gets up to compose himself.

"Deploy the SWATBots. I want them to scour this whole city and bring me back those traitors."

"But sir-"

"That's an order! If you fail to act I'll have your head on a stake in the front of the castle!"

"Sir, we can't move…"

King Acorn sighs as he walks out of the room, "If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself." On his way out King Acorn pulls out his phone and makes a call.

"Charles! Deploy the SWATBots!"

"What for, your highness?"

"I want them to raid this whole city and find Kodos, Naugus, and Julian! I don't care who gets hurt, I just want those traitors executed!"

"Understood, your majesty!"

Charles hangs up the phone and turns in his chair to face his computer. A young boy stands next to him and asks, "Uncle Chuck? What's happening?" "N-nothing, sonny boy," says Charles, "Just stay here and I promise everything will be okay."

On his way to armory, King Acorn sees his daughter in the halls, carrying a large sword. "Sally, my dear," the king calls out, "whatever are you doing here? And with the Sword of Acorns no less!"

"D-daddy, I-"

"Now, now dear, no need to explain yourself. Just hand over the sword and I'll-"

"No!"

"What!?"

"I said NO!"

"Come on sweetie, just give me the sword. I-"

Suddenly, Sally disappears in a cloud of smoke along with the Sword of Acorns. The king is struck dumb, until he comes to a realization. "What in the… oh Naugus you scum!"

Outside of Castle Acorn, it's complete pandemonium, as the SWATBots have already began breaking into innocent people's homes and hurting anyone that stands in their way to look for the traitors. Little do they know, that Sally is leading them, and various other citizens to the safety of Knothole Village, previously only known to the royal family. This would be day her life, and the life of all her friends, would change forever. This day would be known as the birth of the original Freedom Fighters.


	2. Chapter1:TheGreatEscape

_"_Sonic the Hedgehog! You are under arrest for espionage and treason against the Acorn Empire!"

Sonic ran as fast as he could, but the mud created by the rain prevented him from going any faster than a normal mobian. "Dammit! I can't shake 'em for much longer! I have to hide," Sonic said to himself. Sonic ran behind a tree and used a spin dash to bury himself deep underground, hoping to go unnoticed.

"Where did he go?"

"We'll split up and look for him! If he shows resistance deploy the HedgeSWATs we have on stand by!"

Once he hears the footsteps get far enough away from him, Sonic pops out of the ground gasping for air. "Ugh! That is the **last** time I am doing that," he says to himself. Sonic takes a moment to recompose himself, "If Tommy was right, then Knothole Village should be straight ahead."

Sonic starts running at top speed, but immediately slips and falls in the mud, "Gah! Forgot about that. Alright, I guess I have to go slower if I want to actually get there. Ugh, I hate going slow." Reluctantly, Sonic jogs straight ahead for what to him feels like ages. Soon he comes across a cliff slide with seemingly no bottom, none that he could see anyway. "Crap, how am I gonna get to Knothole now?"

Sonic hears a faint rustling in the leaves and he turns around faster than he can think. "Who's there!? Show yourself!" In a cloud of smoke, a mysterious figure in black appears behind Sonic and knocks him out cold.

"This is Agent S to Freedom HQ. I've caught the intruder, I can confirm his identity is Sonic the Hedgehog! I'm taking him to the infirmary and… yes I know… I know that! I want to give him a chance! Please, let me take him to the infirmary! … Thank you, I promise you won't regret it!"

The next day, Sonic wakes up in a bed, his royal army uniform replaced with a white hospital gown. His vision is blurry as first, but Sonic rubs his eyes and clearly sees he is an infirmary. A familiar figure stands at the sink, washing his hands. The man wore a white lab coat, doctor's mirror, and an eyepatch.

"Doctor Quack?"

"Sonic? You're awake!"

"Yeah, I-"

"You've got a lot of explaining to do! First you go missing during the raid on Mobotropolis! Then we find out you're still alive and leading the army against us! And now you're here, no doubt to spy on us and reveal our location to the King!"

"W-wait! You've got it all wrong! I was running away from the kingdom! I came to Knothole for help!"

"Well, even if you were, you better be thankful the princess spared you! If it was up to me you would be rotting in a jail cell right now!"

"The princess? Sally is alive!?"

"You didn't know? She's been leading the Freedom Fighters for years!"

"I don't believe it! Doctor, you've got to let me see her!"

"Now hold on! You're still my patient! You leave when I tell you to!"

Before Sonic could start arguing, a tall, rotund figure came through the door. He wore black leather boots, jeans, a red sweater, and tinted glasses. His orange mustache combined with his smile carried a friendly aura. "Now, now Horatio! We may have doctorates in different fields, but I can tell you Sonic is perfectly healthy!"

Sonic is shocked, "Doctor Kintobor!?" "Please, call me Julian," the doctor replies, "if you don't mind, I'd like to take you on a tour of our fair town while we discuss your business here." Sonic replied enthusiastically, "Anything to get out of this bed!" Doctor Quack sighs and face palms, "Fine! Just keep an eye on him and make sure he doesn't try anything funny!"

Sonic jumps out of his bed and runs to Julian at top speed, "Heh, you've lost weight, doc." "Come now Sonic," said Julian, "after over a decade apart I'm sure there's a lot you want to know!" Sonic jokingly replied on his way with Julian, "Dude, if you could really tell me **everything** I wanted to know, we'd be here all day."


	3. Chapter2:Reunions

Sonic walked with Julian through the chrome white corridors. The halls had various doors leading to various rooms of unknown purposes to Sonic. "So doc, where am I?"

"You're in Freedom HQ! The base of operations for the Freedom Fighters created by me and my students!"

"Your students?"

"Freedom HQ not only acts as a home for the Freedom Fighters, but as an academy where children learn what it takes to be a Freedom Fighter, so that they and their children can lead future generations of Freedom Fighters!"

"Woah. That's pretty sweet, but is there a cafeteria?"

"Actually yes there is! You have GOT to try the omelettes they have in the mornings they are superb!"

Sonic chuckled, "Uh, maybe another time. So doc, if Sal is leading the current Freedom Fighters, then who were the original Freedom Fighters?"

"Why, you're staring at one of them right now!"

"No way! You, a Freedom Fighter!?"

"Indeed! Naugus, Kodos, and I founded the original Freedom Fighters to stop the king from taking over the world! But those days have long since passed us, now we all teach here at the Fighters Academy."

After being led down a long series of corridors, Sonic and Julian finally have arrived at the exit of Freedom HQ. At first the light outside blinds Sonic, but he quickly adjusts. Sonic has not been to Great Forest in many years and had only heard rumors of Knothole Village, so seeing it all person was very surreal to him. In the center of town stood one giant tree, known as the Central Tree, with bridges and ladders leading to the various houses that have been built jutting out of the surrounding trees. At the base of the Central Tree was where various public events were held, including friendly sparring matches between members of the Freedom Fighters. Surrounding the Central Tree were more homes, a playground for children, a prison, a garden area, a market place, a power plant, and of course Freedom HQ.

While walking by the Central Tree, Sonic notices a strange but familiar group of people watching two mobian's fight. The two in question were a squirrel girl in a black stealth suit and a coyote boy who wore a blue t-shirt with a long, red scarf. Before the boy could land another hit with his wooden sword, the girl teleported behind the boy and used a leg sweep to knock him to the ground. The small crowd surrounding them clapped.

"Yo, doc. Who are those guys?"

"Ah, I almost forgot! Sonic, allow me to introduce you to the Freedom Fighters!"

Julian grabbed Sonic's arm and dragged towards the Central Tree and called out to the Freedom Fighters, "Excuse me young ones, but I think there's someone here you'd like to see!" All of the Freedom Fighters turn to Sonic and collectively gasp. Sonic gasps as well, once he realizes the identities of the Freedom Fighters, "...Guys?"

The girl in black runs up to Sonic and hugs him tightly. "Sonic! You're okay," she says.

"S-Sally? Is that really you?"

"It is! I'm so sorry for knocking you out last night!"

"That was you!?"

Sally let go of Sonic and turned her head away in embarrassment, "Yeah, sorry about that. I would have talked it out with you if I could, but I had to make sure you weren't a threat." Sonic tried to reassure his friend, "Hey it's cool, Sal! I'm just glad you and the old gang are alive!"

A walrus boy steps forward. He wore a yellow baseball cap and green utility belt, filled with various gadgets. "No thanks to you," he said. "We've been fighting this war since we were kids, while you were living comfortably in Castle Acorn! We built this village with our bare hands! What have you done!? Command some SWATBots? Get into a little scuffle here and there?"

Sally turns around and is quick to defend Sonic, "Now hold on, Rotor! He may not have been here physically, but Sonic has been helping us by sending us important information on how to defeat the empire!"

"You still think it was him? If it was he would have started writing sooner! Hell, he wouldn't write, he'd come straight to us!"

"And that's what he's done now!"

"Well he's ten years too late."

Rotor walked off while the others simply watched with a mix of shock and concern on their faces. Julian broke the silence, "Well that was unexpected, but it has been a while so I should have expected something like this. Anyway, you probably don't need me to introduce them, but I'll be doing it anyway since we're here. Step forward!" The Freedom Fighters quickly compose themselves and step forward into a line. Julian walks to each around each of them as he introduces them.

"Sally Acorn, AKA Agent S! Natural born leader and well versed in the Ixis Magicks!"

"H-hey, Sonic…"

"Antoine D'Coolette, AKA Agent A! A skilled swordsman able to cut any of the King's forces down to size."

"Allo, Zonic! It has been a while, non?"

"Bunnie Rabbot AKA Agent B! A street brawler from the Mobotropolis days who now uses her strength in the fight against the Acorn Empire! Oh and she has a blaster or something."

"Hey sugah-hog! Didn't think I'd see you any time soon!"

"And Rotor the Walrus AKA Agent R! A master mechanic who just left a moment ago!" Julian shifts into a whisper voice, "Now say the line!"

In unison Sally, Bunnie, and Antoine call out their team motto. "United we stand against the face of adversity! Divided we fall against the hands of injustice! Together we are the Freedom Fighters of Knothole Village!" Julian gets excited and starts jumping in place, "Ooo hearing that never gets old!"

Sonic can't help but chuckle, "Okay that was way past cheesy, but I dig it. Although couldn't you have chosen less obvious code names?" Julian groans, "Well they were supposed to be named after playing cards, but Amy dropped out to go back to Mercia." Sally chimed in, "Actually with Sonic here we can-" Julian cut her off, "Now, now, Sally, he's only just arrived here! Don't you think it would be better to let him settle in before he goes out into the field?" Sally looked down at the ground, embarrassed, "R-right, sorry."

Julian began to walk off to a nearby house, "Come on Sonic! We have one last stop on this little tour of Knothole!" Before running to Julian, Sonic turned to face his friends. "I'll see you guys soon," he said, "at least I hope it's soon." Sonic's friends all waved and said their goodbyes.

"Farewell, Zoinc!"

"Don't make us wait another 10 years sugah-hog!"

"We'll see you soon, Sonic!"

Sonic ran up to Julian and asked, "So where are we going now?" Julian responded, "Trust me, you'll want to see this." They walked up to a small wooden house, similar to others in the village. Julian knocked on the door and was answered by a dark blue hedgehog. He had a single brown tuft of hair and wore a green bathrobe and nothing else. "Hello," he asked before realizing who was at the door, "Oh, good morning Julian!"

"Good morning, Jules! I think I have someone here you would like to see!"

"This better be good if you're waking me up this early."

Julian moved away from the door so that Jules could see who was behind him. Sonic gasped once he saw the man at the door.

"...Dad?"


	4. Chapter3:Family

"...Sonic?"

Jules' mouth hung open when he saw who was at the door. Sonic immediately ran in for a hug, which caught Jules off guard. He was quick to return the hug, however. Sonic began to tear up.

"Dad… you're okay!"

"Of course I'm okay! Heck, I should be asking you how you managed to survive so long!"

Another, lighter blue hedgehog descended from the staircase from behind Jules and Sonic. This hedgehog had one tuft of blonde hair and only wore and a purple nightgown. "Jules," she said, "what's going on?"

Jules let go of Sonic and turned to face Bernadette. "Look who came to visit, Bernie." Upon seeing Sonic, Bernadette immediately ran up to give him a hug.

"Oh honey! I never thought I'd see you again!"

"Gah! I could say the same thing to you mom! Now let me go before you make it impossible to see me again!"

"Oh, sorry sweetie!"

"It's cool mom, I'm just glad to see the two of you are alive!"

"We're surprised you made it here alive! You have a lot of explaining to do!"

"Oh jeez, you guys better sit down. It's kind of a long story."

—

"... And then Sally knocked me unconscious and brought me to the infirmary. Dr. Quack gave me an earful, Dr. Kintobor introduced me to the Freedom Fighters, and then he brought me here to see you guys."

Jules and Bernadette simply sat in silence for a good few seconds. Jules broke the silence, "Well, uh, that's quite the story. At the very least I'm glad you and Charles are okay, but…" Bernadette grabbed Jules' right arm as he put his other arm to his face and began to tear up. "It's okay honey," she said "Charles will come around eventually, he has to." Sonic rebutted, "I don't know mom, a man who sold out his nephew to a mad tyrant who controls most of the world doesn't sound like someone who would put family first." Jules removed his hand from his face and tried to compose himself, "He's right, Bernie. Charles is a different man now. But… he did raise you, Sonic. Can he really be that bad?"

"Uncle Chuck only raised me to be what he wanted me to be. He wanted me to lead the Acorn Empire to victory and hopefully take on his duties when he's older. He even thought about what I want to do."

"And what do you want to do, son?"

"I want to join the Freedom Fighters!"

Bernadette raised her voice, "Absolutely not! I don't care how much experience in battle you have, we just got you back in our lives! I don't think I could bare to lose you again…" Jules tried to calm down his wife, "Bernie please, breath. Now then, we both served in The Great War, did we not?"

"Yes, we did, but our hand was forced. Plus, The Acorn War is way bigger than anything The Great War amounted to!"

"Well think of it like this, our boy has already been serving this war his whole life. He's been working to protect us and whole word, isn't that more important than keeping him here for the rest of his life?"

"I… you… I suppose you have a point. But… oh dear…"

"I know, honey. We have to stay strong."

Bernadette started to tear up and Jules brought her into a warm embrace. Sonic simply watched as he felt his heart sink. He began to tear up as well. "Guys," he said, "I promise I'll end this war and make it back in one piece." Jules let go of Bernadette and turned to Sonic.

"Son… just make us proud."

"I will, dad! I'll be back before you know it!"

Sonic rushed out of his home towards Freedom HQ, preparing to make his plea to join the resistance.


	5. Chapter4:Recruitment

"I'm glad you were able to make it to today's meeting. Now let's discuss our next mission!"

"Let me guess Sal, another surgical strike on Mobotropolis?"

"Exactly, Rotor! Now let's decide on-"

Suddenly, a large gust of wind hit everyone in the conference room. Sonic appeared sitting at the front of the table on the chair that Sally would normally sit in. "So, what did I miss?" Rotor stood up and began to reprimand Sonic. "How the hell did you get here!? And why aren't you in your hospital gown!?"

"Relax Rotor! One, I checked every door in the HQ. Two, I grabbed my army uniform from Dr. Quack's office while he wasn't looking."

"See!? He just admitted to theft! I'm telling you he's bad news!"

"Oh for crying out loud, I just wanted my clothes back! Since when is that a bad thing!?"

Sonic and Rotor stared each other dead in the eye until Sally pulled Sonic out of his chair by his collar. "That is enough out of both of you," she yelled. "Sonic, you have no right to be barging into a private Freedom Fighter meeting! Even though I'm happy to have you back, you're still considered a threat to our affairs! You're lucky I haven't kicked you out of here yet!" Sonic let out a large sigh, "Alright, alright, I'm sorry, okay?"

Sally turned her attention to Rotor, "And Rotor! We can't operate as a team with your continued outbursts and accusations! I need you to simmer down and let the meeting continue!" Rotor scoffed and said, "Fine, sheesh!" Antoine and Bunnie snickered in response.

Sally once again turned to Sonic. "Now then," she asked, "won't you tell us what it is you want, Sonic?" Sonic responded by pulling out a small disc shaped object with a hole in the middle from his coat pocket. He slid the object to the middle of the table and said "Acorn." Suddenly, a beacon of light emerged from the middle of the disc. The light formed into a hologram, revealing a world map of Mobius. "I think you'll find my reason convincing," Sonic said.

Everyone in the room looked at the hologram in confusion. Bunnie chimed in, "And what in tarnation is this?" Sonic responded, "This is a map of Mobius with information on every single piece of territory King Acorn has conquered. It has information on all of his sub-bosses, low level henchmen, and the Freedom Fighter groups protecting those regions. Antoine looked puzzled. "Other Freedom Fighters? And what are zese 'sub-bosses' you speak of?" Sonic was quick to respond.

"They're not Freedom Fighters in name, but they all have the same goal of fighting for their homeland and stopping King Acorn. The sub-bosses are how King Acorn controls all these regions. Each sub-boss gets full control of the region, but they have to follow orders from King Acorn. They even send each other supplies, so it's a symbiotic relationship in a sense."

"And why are you telling us zis?"

"Because I'm here to make an offer. I want to offer my services to the Freedom Fighters, in return I'll tell you everything I know about the Acorn Empire and their operations. If you deny me, I'll still hand over the holo-disk, but for a 'small fee.' So whadda you say?"

Rotor began yelling again. "I think you're nuts!"

"And why is that, Rote," Sonic asked.

"No matter what we say your offer still benefits us! There's gotta be some kind of catch!"

"What do you want me to say!? That the holo-disk is a bomb or something!? I've been sending you letters with everything else I could tell you about the empire this whole time! You really think I would turn my back on you all now!?"

"I still don't believe it was you! It's gotta be some kind of scandal or cover up or-"

Sally slammed her fist on the table and which caused Sonic to step back and everyone else to jump in their seats. "Both of you, stop," she cried out. "Rotor, keep your cool, remember?" Sonic replied, "Thanks, Sal," while giving Rotor a mean look. "So do you accept the offer or not," Sonic asked.

Sally stood up straight so she could address the room. "Well then, all in favor of allowing Sonic to join the Freedom Fighters?"

"Yay!"

"Yay!"

"Nay!"

"Hah! Three to one, fish breath!"

"Why I oughta-"

Sally slammed the table once again. "Both of you, quit it! If we're going to operate as a team we need to cooperate! We don't need you two bickering every 5 minutes!" "Sure, whatever," Rotor grumbled to himself. Sonic rolled his eyes and stepped back from his chair so he could see everyone at the table. "All right Freedom Fighters," he said, "the world isn't going to save itself! We've got to go through 11 different chapters of the Acorn Empire, plus the big man himself. It'll be a long fight, but I know we can pull together and win this fight! So what do you say we do it to it!?" Everyone but Rotor cried out, "yeah!" Rotor was content with saying "yeah" in a low grumble.

Sonic turned to Sally. "Alright Sal," he said, "you're the tactician here. What's our next move?"

"Well, we were going to take out one of da… the king's factories in Mobotropolis, but what you've told us now is gonna change our whole strategy. We'll take down all his sub-bosses so we can cut off all of his suppliers! But what's a good place to start…"

"It looks like those flags on the map point out all the Empire Chapters," Rotor pointed out, "there's one in Mercia it seems!" "Izeen't that where Amy is from," Antoine asked. Sally felt a lightbulb go off in her head. "Bingo," she said, "The Kingdom of Mercia had the closest ties to The Kingdom of Acorn. They were likely hit hard by the Acorn's betrayal and could be more likely to help us!" Sonic was quick to take this as a call to action and jumped onto the table, grabbed the holo-disk, and did a backflip off the table and landed next to the exit on the other side of the room. "Come on gang," he said, "let's get a move on!"

Sonic ran out of the room and Bunnie and Antoine were quick to follow suit. Before Sally could exit with them, Rotor stopped her.

"Sally, we need to talk."

"Rotor, if this is about Son-"

"I know how you feel about him. I know you're biased towards him. I just want you to know if he does betray us, do not reason with him. Your father-"

"He is not my father and Sonic will not betray us. I know it. I just know it…"

Sally walked out of the room with fists clenched. Rotor simply sighed, straightened his cap, and followed her.


	6. Intermission

Julian and Naugus sat at a small table, drinking tea from their cups. The room they were in very much resembled a teacher's lounge, because it was one. A counter jutted out of the wall north from the entrance, which housed all of the necessities that made a kitchen. The rest of the room contained tables that weren't occupied, but had various papers and dirty plates strewn about on them.

Julian and Naugus were discussing recent experiences in their classrooms. Julian in particular, seemed very annoyed.

"So then I told him 'You shouldn't put all your eggs in one basket,' and he replies, 'Sir, you wouldn't fit in just one basket!'"

"Hahahahahahahahaha!"

"Hey why are you laughing!? You're supposed to be on my side!"

"How can I not? The little one has a sharp wit!"

"Ugh. Honestly Naugus, I will never understand how you deal with these children."

"Patience, Julian. I have to be patient with all of my pupils. One cannot simply master the Ixis Magicks overnight. I expected you of all people to know this."

"I know we can't expect them to become Freedom Fighters overnight, but time is of the essence! We need all the help we can get and these children haven't shown any significant growth since we've started training them!"

"Can you really not name a single student of yours who has grown from your robotics class?"

"Well, I suppose Rotor is an exception. And that fox boy has been showing potential…"

"Ah yes, the young Prower. Weren't his parents active in The Great War?"

"Well yes, but they've been missing ever since the Raid on Mobotropolis. Miles has been under the care of Rosie for most of his life."

"Hmm… that could prove troubling if we wish for him to join our cause. Rosie is particularly protective of her children."

"True… what we could do-"

Suddenly, the room began to shake. The sounds of a loud jet engine can be heard from not too far off.

"What in the world!? Naugus, you're the magic one! What's happening!?"

"How should I know!? Just because I'm magic doesn't mean I know everything!"

Suddenly, the shaking stopped. Both Naugus and Julian took a moment to compose themselves. Julian brushed off his shoulders, while Naugus scratched his back with his claw.

"Ugh, unbelievable," Julian says as he pulls out a small, clamshell computer from his pocket. "Nicole! What's happening to the HQ!?"

"It appears as though the F.F. Special is being comondered," replied Nicole.

"What!? By who!?"

"How should I know? You didn't give me access to the camera's on the ship like I requested!"

"It appears your hubris has struck once again, Julian," said Naugus.

Julian became hostile. "Both of you, quiet! We need to go to the hangar and check the security cameras!"

"Well what are we waiting for," Naugus asked. "Let's get going!"

Julian closed Nicole and slipped the computer back in his pocket. Him and Naugus ran out of the room in no time at all, leaving their drinks on the table.


End file.
